The Launch of the

Locum Solicitor Scheme

How It All Began

In 2002, the Society’s Practice Structures Committee, then chaired by Vice President Mrs Arfat Selvam, proposed an alternative to full time legal practice as part of the Society’s continuing initiatives to study and implement new ideas to improve practice and assist members.

In 2003, as President of the Society, Mrs Arfat Selvam in her Opening of Legal Year address, announced that the Society would propose a scheme (which was then called ‘de-linked practising certificate’) that would allow lawyers to obtain a valid practising certificate without being attached or ‘linked’ to any particular law practice and offer their services to one or more law practices at the same time.

Mrs Selvam outlined the benefits of the scheme in her speech as follows:

1    Encourage lawyers who cannot practise on a full time basis to return to practice. Lawyers who left practice to be full time mothers or lawyers who wished to have an alternative lifestyle to full time practice or senior practitioners who wished to remain in practice but not on a full time basis could under this proposal return to practice.

2    Encourage specialisation as a lawyer can commit himself or herself to a preferred area of law and offer his/her expertise to more than one law practice which required a lawyer for that area of practice.

3    Improve manpower allocation. Law practices can have the flexibility of being able to engage a lawyer on a temporary basis to deal with a particular project or an unexpected surge in work.

4    Provide locum service to small law firms, particularly sole proprietors, when they were ill or wished to take some time off or simply assist them for a short period of time.

The Society’s proposal for a ‘de-linked practising certificate’ was submitted in 2003, and in 2004, the Legal Profession Act (Cap 161, revised edition) (‘Act’) was amended to set the necessary legal framework for what is now called the locum solicitor scheme.

The Society, began in 2004 to work on all relevant consequential amendments needed to the Society’s Rules of practice and ethics to bring into force the locum solicitor scheme. The following Rules were amended in December 2004 by the Attorney-General’s Chambers with the Society’s input, approved by the Honourable the Chief Justice on 11 January 2005 and gazetted on 15 February 2005 to take effect as law from 1 April 2005:

(1)  The Legal Profession (Professional Conduct) Rules;

(2)  The Legal Profession (Practising Certificate) Rules; and

(3)  The Legal Profession (Professional Indemnity) Rules.

In this article, I set out a summary of the relevant provisions of the Legal Profession Act and relevant Rules on the locum solicitor scheme.

What is a Locum Solicitor?

A locum solicitor is one who practises on a temporary or freelance basis for one or more law practices (s 2 Legal Profession Act).

A lawyer cannot practise both as a locum solicitor and as a proprietor, partner of a law firm or director of a law corporation or as a full time employee in any 
law practice.

If one wishes to practise as a locum solicitor, then one must cease practice as a full time advocate and solicitor and apply for a locum solicitor Practising Certificate (‘PC’).

How Do I Become a Locum Solicitor?

To practise as a locum solicitor you must apply for and obtain a locum solicitor PC issued by the Registrar, Supreme Court. Under the Act, only a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident of Singapore can practise as a locum solicitor (s 26, 1A of the Act).

The membership fee to the Law Society for a locum solicitor is a flat fee of S$472.50 (including 5% GST) and S$100.00 Compensation Fund Levy (S$50.00 if the PC application is made on or after 1 October each year). A stamp fee of S$100.00 is payable to the Registrar, Supreme Court to file a locum solicitor practising application.

To practise as a locum solicitor you must meet all relevant qualifications to hold a PC as in the case of any advocate and solicitor as prescribed by the Act.

Training Requirements for Locum Solicitors

To ensure a locum solicitor has current practice knowledge, the Act prescribes if a lawyer has not been in practice for three out of five years preceding the application for locum solicitor PC application either as a proprietor or partner of a law firm, or director of a law corporation or as a full time employee in such a practice or a legal officer, then he/she must meet the Council’s training requirements for a locum solicitor.

The amendments to the Legal Profession (Practising Certificate) Rules specify 10 hours of training, six of which must be in areas of practice prescribed by the Council as published on the Society’s website. The above Rules also require one to apply for his locum solicitor PC within 12 months of completing the training, again to ensure currency of practice knowledge. Information on the training requirements, areas of practice prescribed by Council, recognised training providers and registration for programmes are found on the very informative CPD Portal on the Society’s Homepage at www.lawsociety.org.sg under ‘Mandatory Training Requirements’.

Professional Indemnity For a Locum Solicitor

Unlike a lawyer in full time practice, a locum solicitor does not have to obtain professional indemnity insurance cover at the time of applying for a locum solicitor PC, but one cannot commence practice as a locum solicitor unless the law practice(s) that engages the locum solicitor obtains professional indemnity cover to cover the period that the locum solicitor is engaged by that law practice.

Restrictions When You Practise as a Locum Solicitor

A locum solicitor, like any practising member of the Law Society, is bound to comply with the Act, all Rules of practice and ethics made by Council under the Act, Practice Directions of Council and to cast his/her vote at Council elections.

However, unlike a lawyer in full time practice, a locum solicitor cannot do the following as prescribed by the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct) Rules:

i)    a locum solicitor cannot be a proprietor, partner of a law firm or director of a law corporation or full time employee of a law firm or law corporation;

ii)   a locum solicitor cannot hold client money, open or maintain or operate a client account, sign or give or receive an instruction for withdrawal or give instruction in respect of client money as defined under the Legal Profession (Solicitors’ Accounts) Rules, or hold money as a solicitor-trustee as defined under Legal Profession (Solicitors’ Trust Accounts) Rules;

iii) a locum solicitor must be supervised by the proprietor or a partner of the law firm or a director of the law corporation which engages him/her. This ‘designated’ supervising practitioner must exercise supervision over the locum and the name of the supervising practitioner must be provided by the law practice to the Society’s mandatory insurance scheme Broker, Alexander Forbes;

iv) a locum solicitor must notify the Law Society (by writing to Director, Professional Standards) within seven days of commencing/ceasing practice as a locum of the following:

(1) name of law practice that engaged the locum;

(2) date of commencement of the engagement;

(3) period of engagement;

(4) date of cessation of engagement; and

v)   a locum solicitor cannot sign any bill of costs of a law practice or any letter accompanying such a bill of costs, or act as a solicitor-trustee.

Conflict of Interests and Locum Solicitors

The Council of the Law Society has issued a ‘Practice Direction on Conflict of Interests for Locum Solicitors’ which is published below to highlight both to the locum solicitor and law practice that engages him/her on specific issues of conflict as a locum solicitor can practise in more than one law practice at the same time.

Recruitment Support from the Law Society

The Law Society will from April 2005 offer an online ‘Register of Law Practices’ for practices seeking to engage a locum solicitor. This free service will be provided via the Society’s Homepage.

If You Have Questions

If you have any questions on the locum solicitor scheme, please contact the Law Society’s Professional Standards Department and speak to the Law Society’s Membership Officer or the Director, Professional Standards, or 
e-mail [email protected].

Yasho Dhoraisingam

The Law Society of Singapore